Toph's foot slammed into the ground, sending ripples out as far as she could reach. The landscape around them jumped slightly as she did, and then settled down as if nothing had ever happened, ignoring the flocks of startled birds that now took flight.

"Not here, either," she said, turning towards Sokka.

"You're sure you didn't just miss it?" Sokka asked. "It's pretty tiny! Well, not actually tiny, more like smallish in comparison to the surrounding area--"

"For the millionth time, yes, I'm sure!" Toph snapped, glaring at a space about two feet to Sokka's left. "It's got a really unique feel to it! If it was in range, I'd know it. It's not here. So draw your stupid circle on your stupid map, and let's go!"

Sokka held up his hand appeasingly. "Fine, fine," he said as he sat down. He took out the map, unfolded it in his lap, then pulled out his compass (the circle-drawing kind, not the navigational tool; he'd already made that mistake once this trip and didn't think Toph would ever let him live it down), and started to draw a circle. He stopped halfway through, held the map up to the light, and considered.

"Is that where we are?" he wondered out loud. The map was covered in circles, drawn to indicate the are that Toph had already checked with her bending abilities. He was pretty sure this newest circle was in the right place, but if he was wrong...

"Looks fine to me," Toph quipped.

Sokka arched an eyebrow at her, grabbed a pebble off of the ground, and playfully tossed it in her direction. Without moving noticeably, she raised up a wall of earth to stop it, and then flicked her fingers upwards, sending Sokka sprawling to the ground.

"Alright, fine," Sokka said, picking himself off the ground and rubbing his sore behind. "I'll just draw the circle."

He repositioned his compass on the page, and quickly completed the arc around it, then folded it up and returned it to his pocket. "There. Now, the next place to look is about a mile...thataway," he said, turning around to point east.

Toph stomped the ground and then tilted her hands upwards, and a stone platform detached itself from ground underneath their feet. Without bothering to ask if Sokka was ready, Toph pushed it forward with her bending, and it started riding on the earth.

She maintained perfect balance, but he wasn't half so lucky. He stumbled backwards with a yelp, made an embarrassing flop onto the platform's surface, and then clung to it as tightly as he could trying to avoid falling off the fast-moving platform.

"You know," he said, "we could just, you know...walk there."

"Where's the fun in that?" she asked. Her face broke into a manic grin, and then, as if deliberately intending to frighten him, made a sudden motion that caused the earth beneath them to shove upwards, sending their platform up into the air and spinning in a clockwise direction. It made two full turns before landing with a crunch. Toph whooped loudly and pumped her fist.

Sokka thought he was going to be sick. "Toph, you know I appreciate you helping me with this--"

"No problem, Sokka."

"--but if you ever do that again, I'm going to feed you to Appa. You will be Appa's lunch, to replace the one that I am about to lose."

Toph giggled. "You can be such a wuss, Sokka. I've got no idea what she sees in you."

"Right," Toph said sarcastically. She glanced around quickly, and then stopped the earth platform. Sokka, who hadn't been expecting the sudden stop, skidded off of it thanks to his own inertia, and sprawled on the ground in an extremely undignified position.

"Warning, next time!"

"Whatever," Toph said, jumping off. "Let's get this done."

She stomped her foot against the ground again , and her brow furrowed in concentration. Then her half-lidded eyes shot open, and she pointed to her right.

"Found it! We're practically on top of it. Just a hundred feet or so that way."

Sokka scrambled to his feet, and without even bothering to brush himself off started running past her, in the direction she was pointing. A moment after passing her, he had a second thought and dashed back to her side. He threw an arm around her and pulled her in for a half-hug. "Thanks," he said, then he ran off again in he direction she'd been pointing in.

"No problem," Toph said, a little wistfully, once he was out of earshot.

Sokka ran until he was certain he must have passed it, and then started glancing around frantically. She had felt it, right? She wasn't wrong, or lying to see him run around excitedly, was she? Where was the stupid thing...

"Hey, genius!" Toph's voice called out to him. "You ran right past it!"

Sokka looked back at her, and saw by her foot...yes! There it was! How could he have missed it? He ran over to her and pulled it out from where it had embedded itself in the dirt: a blade of black steel, capable of cutting through anything, which he'd dropped from a Fire Nation airship while keeping a firebender from frying him and Toph. The hilt looked a little worse for wear, but the meteorite steel of the blade was as flawless as it has every been.

"Whoo-hoo!"

He jumped in the air, elated, and spun around. "We found it! Oh, Space Sword, we are never going to be apart again! I don't care if I have to wear you to bed, I am never letting go of you until the end of time!"

"That's swell," Toph said. "Now can we get going?"

She started to kick the ground, to create another earth platform for them to ride, but Sokka interrupted by grabbing her shoulder.